Seattle's aid efforts for Pakistan see slow-flowing response

When Dr. Saad Rahman first heard news of the floods in Pakistan, he immediately thought of his family.

The Seattle man was born in Pakistan, and many members of his family still live in the Nowshera area in northwest Pakistan where the flood, which began in late July, did some of its worst damage. The flooding since has spread south, placing an estimated 20 percent of the country under water.

After days of trying to reach his family by phone, Rahman connected. His relatives were relatively fortunate: Although their houses were flooded with up to eight feet of water, no one was injured, and they were able to relocate to another house Rahman's parents own in Peshawar.

Many more Pakistanis were not as fortunate: An estimated 20 million people have been affected and more than 900,000 homes destroyed. The United Nations says 6 million people lack access to food, shelter and water. At least 1,600 have died, and there is evidence that waterborne disease is on the rise.

The disaster has overwhelmed the Pakistani government and international aid groups. Provincial officials also warned Thursday that Islamic militants are exploiting the strain on the country by regrouping their forces in northwest Pakistan. In the capital, Islamabad, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., expressed concerns about a strengthening insurgency as he said the United States would ramp up its flood-relief package to $150 million.

The floods have "devastated my city, my province and my country," Rahman said.

So Rahman, a physician with Swedish Medical Center, is doing what he can to raise money to help.

He, along with other members of the Pakistan Association of Greater Seattle, is organizing a fundraising dinner next Friday.

Other Northwest-based organizations also are ramping up efforts to help the flood victims.

But donations have been far slower coming in for this disaster than other recent natural disasters.

For instance, Federal Way-based World Vision in about two weeks had raised $255,000 as of early this week. That's a far cry from money raised at the two-week mark for other disasters: $19.5 million for the 2010 Haiti earthquake; $1.6 million for the 2005 Pakistan earthquake; $16.7 million for the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

The slow pace of donations is likely due to a number of factors: the recession; the nature of the disaster (floods and slow-building disasters are harder to raise money for); initial scant media coverage; people not realizing the extent of the damage; and Americans' mixed feelings about Pakistan.

World Vision typically raises 10 to 15 times more from donors responding to a hurricane or earthquake as opposed to a flood, said Randy Strash, World Vision's strategy director for emergency response.

He hypothesized that there might be a psychological barrier: Americans may believe people shouldn't build houses so close to rivers that could flood. They don't realize, Strash said, that flooding in the United States is fairly predictable, what with levees and dikes, but Pakistan doesn't have a similar level of flood-control systems.

World Vision has delivered food and water to more than 21,000 people in Nowshera and Charsadda in northwest Pakistan. The group also plans to distribute water-purification packets, hygiene kits, tents and cooking items, but says fresh floods and landslides are hampering the aid effort.

Portland-based Mercy Corps also reports a lagging donation rate compared with other recent disasters. The organization is distributing clean water to 10,000 people per day, along with hundreds of food and tool kits, in the Swat Valley in northwest Pakistan and recently started distributing water and building latrines in Sindh province in southeast Pakistan.

As of early this week, Mercy Corps said it had taken in $375,000 in 12 business days since beginning fundraising in early August. By comparison, $10 million came in for the Haiti earthquake in 12 business days.

But there has been a slow, steady increase for Pakistan's flood victims, which Communications Director Joy Portella attributes to an uptick in media coverage.

Still, she noted, "Many Americans have mixed feelings about Pakistan, which one would hope would not impact giving to such a major humanitarian disaster. But it might."

Rizwan Samad, a member of the Pakistan Association of Greater Seattle, acknowledges there are many who don't trust Pakistan's government.

That's why, during the association's fundraising dinner, he plans to encourage people to donate to one of six organizations: Mercy Corps, American Red Cross, The Citizens Foundation USA, Islamic Relief, Human Development Foundation and Hidaya Foundation.

The dinner is intended to energize the local Pakistani community as well as the Greater Seattle community.

"This is a severe and urgent need," Samad said.

Information from The Washington Post, The Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times is included in this report. Janet I. Tu: 206-464-2272 or jtu@seattletimes.com.